The Arts
by October Raspberry
Summary: Just another high school fic :  Sakura and Sasuke are paired up for projects. Projects lead to romance, which lead to restaurants, which lead to sleepovers, which lead to clubs. Sasusaku, Nejiten, Shikaino, Naruhina.
1. Chapter 1

**The Arts**

**I know that there are tons of Naruto high school fics around here, but I couldn't help writing one! There's nothing better to do on a hot summer day than to write high school romances for my favorite Naruto pairings. :D**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, sadly, so I guess I'll have to appreciate the fact that Fanfiction exists.**

Since the election for mayor of Konoha was won by Tsunade, a new building was under construction in the Eastern part of the city.

Tsunade announced that the building was going to be a new high school since there were none in the eastern part of the enormous city. The school was actually part of a bigger picture. Konoha was ranked as one of the most polluted areas due to the amount of carbon dioxide that the citizens were distributing into the atmosphere, and unless they did something to change that, drastic measures would have to be taken. Thus, Tsunade ordered the construction of the new high school because she assumed parents and teenagers would not drive every day, back and forth, to an entirely different part of the city, minimizing their total output of that harmful gas.

Besides, she wanted to teach the future of Konoha a thing or two, so she took the liberty to appoint herself as principal.

'_This will be a very interesting year.' _Tsunade thought, while inwardly smirking.

It would be an interesting year indeed.

XXX

_Two Months Later_

_Beep, Beep, Beep,_

Sakura sighed as she buried her face in her soft pillow and pulled the warm blanket closer around her body. She remembered that today was her, and everyone else's, first day at the newly built high school.

She was very pleased that the new high school had been built because it was a lot closer to her house than Suna High was, and therefore she had been granted a full extra hour of sleep. She thought that she would feel less tired by waking up at seven in the morning instead of six a.m. but, to her surprised horror, she felt exactly the same as she had felt the previous year: sleep deprived.

Reluctantly, she got out of bed and stepped into the bathroom, almost screaming when she saw her face in the mirror. Her eyes were puffy and swollen from sleeps and they had black bags underneath them. Her short, natural, bubble-gum pink hair stuck out at every angle possible, and she was pretty sure that the see-through substance that had accumulated at the corner of her mouth was drool.

She showered quickly to tame her wild hair and proceeded to dress herself with gray jeans and a navy blue tank top. Even if it was the first day of school Sakura saw no need to 'dress up'. What was the point, anyways? Most people forgot what they wore on the first day of school after a week. She knew that a lot of the girls dressed up to impress boys but Sakura did not have anybody to impress, anyways.

She grabbed her backpack and shoes and ran down the stairs, stopping at the table to eat the granola bar she had taken out of the cupboard. Her parents had already left to work. Both of her parents worked in the medical field, thus pressuring her to enter the same profession. They had never actually told Sakura that she _must _do it, but the idea was implied, nonetheless. However, Sakura did not oppose to the idea of being a medic, as long as she got to pick _what _kind of medic. Both of her parents were surgeons, but she preferred researching about diseases and trying to find antidotes and such.

She headed out the door, deciding that she would walk since the new school was only ten minutes away from her house. Besides, exercise was good for the body and it was a lovely day outside. The sun shined in all its glory and a few birds were chirping brightly. The smell of freshly cut green grass wafted through the air and she breathed in deeply of the sweet and fresh scent.

"Hey, Sakura, is that you?" A cheery voice said.

The voice was very familiar to Sakura, and her face split into a huge grin when she caught sight of one of her best friends, Tenten. Sakura and her had attended Suna Elementary School and had developed a close friendship. Tenten also lived a block away from her so they often got together, making their friendship even stronger.

"Hi Tenten!" Sakura greeted, mirroring Tenten's cheerfulness.

"I'm so glad I caught up with you, Sakura," Tenten began, a smile on her face. "Or else I'd have to face walking all alone through the halls of the school looking like a loner."

Sakura giggled and nodded at Tenten, knowing fully well that she did not like to be left alone. She was always in need of constant company because she was afraid that others would think she had no friends. How Tenten suspected such things, Sakura did not know, but everybody had their quirks.

They kept on walking towards the school, and as it entered their line of sight, they gasped out loud at the size of it, seeing as it was twice the size of Suna High.

"Wow," Sakura said, as the approached the gates which had Konoha High written on it.

"Wow indeed," Tenten said, still gaping at the building.

Their staring was interrupted when two familiar faces approached them, and when Sakura and Tenten took notice of Hinata and Ino, they almost squealed with delight as they started hugging each other. A mixture of 'forehead', 'panda', 'princess', and 'Ino-pig' was heard through their laughter.

"Don't tell me you guys are attending Konoha High too!" Ino exclaimed, her voice raising a few octaves higher.

"Well, duh! Of course we are! Why would we want to spend an hour in the car driving to Suna?" Sakura responded.

Ino, Hinata, and Tenten were Sakura's best friends. Sakura had also met Hinata and Ino at Suna Elementary School and they also developed a close bond between them. However, Ino and Hinata lived further away than where Sakura lived, so they did not see each other as often as Sakura and Tenten did, but the friendship between them was just as strong.

"I'm so excited!" Tenten yelled, glad to be surrounded by even more people.

"Yeah, me too," The shy Hinata said.

The girls soon started chattering about their summers and the places they visited when they were interrupted by the obnoxious sound of a bell ringing, signaling that it was time to enter their forum rooms.

"Stupid bell," Tenten muttered.

"Yeah, I know right! It's the first day of school for crying out loud; couldn't they have set the bell a few minutes later?" Ino asked to no one in particular.

"Well what kind of impression would that give people?" Sakura asked, rhetorically.

"Still, I don't think they're going to give anyone detention if they're late a bit." Ino countered.

"Better safe than sorry," Hinata said, and Tenten nodded in agreement.

"Aww, you guys!" Ino pouted. "You're no fun."

"No, Ino," Tenten said. "Detention is no fun."

"Anyways," Sakura said, trying to change the subject. "Who are you forum teachers?"

"Kakashi-sensei," The three girls replied in unison.

"Awesome!" Sakura cheered, completely ecstatic. "Me too!"

She was really glad that all of her friends would be in the same forum class as her because that meant that they had, more or less, the same scheduele. Sakura was taking an advanced course on biology that she knew the other girls did not even consider about taking, and she knew Hinata and Ino would take art. Unfortunately, Tenten and Sakura did not have many art skills. Tenten was taking orchestra, as she was really talented in playing the violin. Sakura was pretty sure that Hinata and Ino had never even touched an instrument in their whole life, much like herself. It was safe to say that each girl had different interests in subjects.

They fell into easy chatter and finally reached their forum room, where they were met by half an empty classroom and not a teacher in sight. Sakura recognized some faces, but not all of them. She saw Kiba and Shino, who had also attended Suna High. Sakura recalled that Shino and Kiba were best friends, but personally she had never really gotten the chance to know them. Shino mostly kept to himself and Kiba was just a loud prankster that sometimes aided Naruto in his 'evil' doings.

She smiled as she thought of Naruto, who Sakura considered the brother that she never had. Sure, he was obnoxious, loud, and rude, but he was a very good friend and a person that everybody could rely on. She had first met him when they were young, and she would definitely consider him as her boy best friend. She wondered whether he would also attend Konoha High. She did not see him in the classroom, but knowing Naruto, he was probably going to be late. That was, _if _he planned to leave Suna High. She had never really talked to Naruto over the summer as he left with his uncle, Jiraiya, on a cruise that had lasted the whole summer.

'Pshh," Ino said, interrupting Sakura's thoughts. "See you guys? Not even the teacher is here!"

Sakura sighed as she realized that Ino would not let the matter drop. Ino did always have a thing for being 'fashionably late'…

"Well, since we're now here," Hinata said, trying to make the best of the situation, as always. "Let's pick out our seats."

"Yeah," Tenten said, agreeing with Hinata for the second time. "If we would've come later, all of the good seats would be taken, and we would be forced to sit in the back next to the air conditioner."

Ino simply sighed but complied as she sat down at a table next to Sakura in the front. Tenten and Hinata sat next to each other right behind them. Ino turned around to face her other two best friends when she caught sight of four gorgeous guys entering the classroom.

Sakura stared at Ino, about to ask her if something was wrong, because it was an unusual sight to see Ino at a loss for words. Sakura followed her line of sight and a look of recognition dawned on her face. Ino was a sucker for guys, and everybody knew it. Still, Sakura could hardly resist pulling her gaze away from them either.

One boy had long black hair that was tied into a low pony tail, with eyes that looked exactly like Hinata's. The other guys trailing behind him had a lazy expression on his face, and his hair seemed to take the form of a pine apple. She could tell that there were more people behind those two, but she was too short and could not see past the other boy's heads.

Sakura registered fan girl squeals around her, but she was certain that none came from her mouth or her friends.

"This is such a drag," The pine apple haired boy said.

"Shikamaru," The long haired boy said, revealing his friends name. "I couldn't agree with you more."

"And as I was saying, a lot of my friends will be here, and I know you'll like them! Oh wait, there they are!" A familiar blonde exclaimed, pointing to Sakura and her friends.

Naruto quickly made his way to Sakura, enveloping her into a bone crushing hug.

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto exclaimed, tightening his grip on her. "I haven't seen you in forever! Eh, Sakura-chan, have you grown shorter?"

Under normal circumstances, Sakura would have been glad to see Naruto and would have gladly returned the hug if he had not insulted her height. She would have punched him right in the face if it wasn't for his bone crushing hug, and she would have yelled at him to butt off if he wasn't restricting her flow of oxygen.

"What's wrong? Why is your face turning blue?" Naruto asked, as he registered the look and color Sakura's face.

"Dobe, you're hugging her too tight." A silky voice said from behind him.

"Oh, sorry!" Naruto apologized, letting her go.

Sakura stared at her savior, wanting to thank him, but her words caught in her throat. The person before her was a complete stranger, yet Sakura felt drawn to him. He was pale, with cold and dark eyes that made her repress a shiver. There was absolutely nothing funny about him, despite the fact that his dark blue hair resembled a chicken's ass.

"So guys meet my friends!" Naruto said to his three friends enthusiastically, breaking Sakura out of her reverie.

"The pink haired girl is Sakura Haruno. She's like a sister to me since I've known her like for all my life. She's really nice at times but sometimes she abuses me." Naruto said sadly, and his three friends chuckled lightly.

Sakura felt her eyes twitch. She abused him? She had never done so before, except for the occasional punch which he so rightly deserved, but she was certainly going to abuse him now.

"You baka!" Sakura screamed, loosing her cool. "I _abuse _you? I haven't seen you in months and this is what you're saying about me, right in front of my face?"

Sakura was prepared to go on a full on rampage, except for the fact that Naruto quickly apologized and told her to take it easy. He sounded like he truly meant his apology, so Sakura decided to let his comment slide, just this once.

"Baka," Sakura muttered under her breath.

"Nice to meet you all." Sakura said sweetly to the other three boys, trying to make it seem like she was a total and complete angel.

"Don't worry, Sakura, we all know very well how Naruto always over exaggerates things. We don't really think that you abused him." The pine apple haired guy said, nonchalantly.

Sakura was grateful that they knew Naruto's true colors, but the fact that Naruto said that she abused him was still a little bit unsettling to her.

"And this is Ino Yamanaka!" Naruto yelled, trying to change the subject. "She's really loud, uh, no offense, but she's a good friend and all."

Sakura was sure that Ino was going to declare a full out war on Naruto, but to her amazement, she kept quiet. She was staring so intently at the pine apple haired guy that Sakura bet Ino had not even registered what Naruto had said about her.

"And the girl with brown hair into two buns is…" Naruto said, while making his way to Tenten's side. "Panda-chan!"

"Naruto!" She screamed, bonking Naruto on the head. "How many times have I told you not to call me that!"

"All right, sorry, sorry," He said sheepishly. "Her name is Tenten and she's really cool and outgoing. She's also good with weapons, so be sure to stay on her good side. Her accuracy is like deadly, fo' realz."

"You betcha!" Tenten said, crossing her arms over her chest.

"What's your last name?" The guy with long hair asked.

Sakura saw Tenten stare at him, and she suddenly felt pity for Tenten, although she would never show it because Tenten absolutely hated pity. She felt pity towards her best friend because she did not have a last name since she was adopted. Her family was great and everything, but Tenten refused to call herself by their surname.

"_It's not mine," _Tenten had told Sakura when she asked her why.

"I don't have one," She replied bluntly.

The boy that had asked her name narrowed his eyes, but said nothing in return.

Naruto knew that Tenten was really touchy when it came to family issues, so he quickly began to introduce his last friend, Hinata.

"And that's Hinata! Hinata knows Neji since she's his cousin." Naruto said, while pointing to the guy that asked about Tenten's last name.

"She's really shy and kind and sweet and she is the only person that has never bonked me on the head. To that I am grateful. Thank you, Hinata!"

"You're w-w-welcome, N-Naruto-kun," Hinata stuttered, while a faint blush spread across her cheek.

Naruto gave her his flashing signature grin and Hinata turned different kinds of red. Sakura, knowing that Hinata had a major crush on Naruto, wanted to spare her friend some humiliation, so she asked Naruto to introduce his friends to them.

"Oh yeah, okay, so the guy next to me is Sasuke Uchiha. He's all stoic and cold and stuff but once you spend some time with him you'll get used to it. I'm pretty sure his favorite pastime was killing puppies and in his free time he likes to write depressing poetry."

The girls laughed while the boys, excluding Sasuke, chuckled a bit. Sakura was not sure about the puppy killing, but she could definitely see Sasuke by his window on a rainy day crying his eye out while he expressed his feelings with a pen and paper. He just seemed like the type.

"Dobe," Sasuke said, obviously irritated by Naruto's antics.

Sakura was surprised when Sasuke did not bonk Naruto on the head. She safely assumed that he was accustomed to Naruto's silly behavior and did not take his comments to heart. Sakura had done the exact opposite, and could not help but wonder how long Sasuke had known Naruto in order to not lash out at him. Naruto had never mentioned a Sasuke before, so she was pretty sure that they had recently met. But Naruto introduced Sasuke as a friend, so they did not just happen to bump into each other on their way here. Sakura decided that Sasuke just kept his emotions in check, since he really had not displayed any emotion except annoyance since he had stepped into the room.

"And this guy that makes me want to sing 'Who lives in a pineapple under the sea?' is Shikamaru Nara." Naruto said, interrupting Sakura from her thoughts once more.

Naruto had always been a jokester, but she wondered how his new 'friends' could stand his constant teasing and mocking.

"He's like really lazy but super smart. His IQ is over 200."

"This is troublesome," He muttered lazily, while leaning against the teacher's desk.

Sakura highly doubted his IQ was over 200, but anything was possible. If natural pink hair was possible, than she supposed his IQ was too. She made a mental note to talk to Shikamaru later. She would determine herself if he was intelligent or not.

She turned towards Ino who was still staring at Shikamaru. She was in the exact same position she had been since he had first walked into the room, and Sakura wondered if Ino had even blinked since then. She elbowed her friend to bring her back to reality, and when Ino realized she had been caught, she stared at floor embarrassed, without a doubt.

"This guy over here is Neji Hyuga. He's also kind of like Sasuke, but he's not depressed and stuff. He's really in to martial arts and meditation and stuff like that." Naruto said.

But before anybody could say anything else, a white haired man decided to enter the class.

"Okay everybody, take your seats, I'm Kakashi and I'll be your forum teacher from now on."

"You're late!" Most of the class said in unison.

"Well you see, I was lost on the road of life… Wait who am I kidding I just went out and bought the new edition of Icha Icha Paradise." He said, as he sat at his desk, taking out a green book.

Sakura noticed that he had a mask that covered half of his face, and she began to wonder why that was so. She saw as he opened the book, only to close it shortly afterwards.

"Okay, I know that this is the beginning of school, but we're getting right down to work."

"Yeah right!" A kid with blonde hair and green eyes yelled form the back. "You just want us to be busy with work so you can read your perverted book!"

"As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted," Kakashi began. "You'll all be assigned a project regarding the Arts. Most people fail to see how important things in the Arts truly are, and I want you to find out for yourself how important and useful it can be in real life. There are four topics that I will assign."

About half of the students groaned in protest, but Kakashi held his hand up signaling for them to stop.

"You'll all be assigned partners, and no, you may not pick your partner. I've taken the liberty to do so."

That comment earned him even more groans and Sakura could feel everybody's anxiousness in regards to their mystery partners.

She turned to her three friends and said:

"I hope I'm paired up with one of you."

"Ditto," Ino said.

"I'm keeping my fingers crossed." Tenten said, crossing her fingers to show that she was seriously.

Hinata only nodded in response.

"Okay so the first pair is Kiba and Shino, and your project is about Music."

"Yes!" Kiba exclaimed, very enthusiastically, high-fiving Shino. "

"The second pair is Karin and Suigetsu, and you will be doing a project about Art itself."

"Awww!" Karin screeched. "I wanted to be paired up with Sasuke-kun!"

"Yeah, too bad," Kakashi responded.

"The next pair is Choji and Amaya. You're project will be about Theatre."

Nothing was heard as said people stared warily at each other.

"Next are Ami and Hiro, and your going to do a dance interpretation."

Sakura barely took notice of the other teams. All she knew so far was that Hinata, Ino, and Tenten had not been called out, and there was a good chance that she was going to be paired up with one of them. Doing a fun project with one of her best friends was something she would not say no to, as it was just another excuse to get together.

"The next pair is Ino and Shikamaru and you're going to be doing something about Theatre."

Ino did not say anything in protest, much to Sakura's amazement, but when Shikamaru said: "How troublesome," Ino demanded that she switched partners.

"The next pair is Naruto and Hinata, and you'll be doing Dance." Kakashi said, totally ignoring Ino's remark.

"That's great!" Naruto yelled eagerly.

"This is going to be so much fun, don't you think Hinata?" He asked her.

Hinata simply blushed and nodded quickly, hoping that she would not faint right on the spot. Sakura could tell that Hinata was quite pleased with the pairing, not that she would ever admit it.

However, Sakura was less than pleased. Only Tenten, Sasuke, and Neji remained to be picked, and she really hoped that Tenten was placed with her. She could not stand doing a project with someone as cold as Sasuke, no matter how good looking he was. She also could not see herself spending time with someone as indifferent as Neji. The odds were not in her favor, but there was still a small chance that she would be paired up with Tenten. Sakura crossed her fingers and silently prayed.

"The next pair which will be doing a project on music are Neji and Tenten."

Sakura heard Tenten take a large intake of breath, and Sakura's worst fears became reality. Because Tenten was paired up with Neji, that meant she was paired up with Sas-

"And that leaves the last pair who will do a project about Art, Sasuke and Sakura."

"No way!" Sakura heard Karin screech. "Why does she get to be paired up with Sasuke-kun?"

Sakura sighed as she realized she would not only have to somehow manage having an ice cube as a partner for her project, which he would probably make her do all by herself anyways, but she also had to deal with fan girls accusing her of stealing their precious Sasuke away.

"Oh, and the project is due this Friday." Kakashi said, while opening his green book.

Suddenly, Sakura had the urge to take it away from him and smack him on the head with it really hard.

XXX

**Eh? So do you like it, hate it? Feel free to voice your 'youthful' opinions full of 'youthfulness'. :P **

**Would you review if I told you that somehow you'd get a cookie if you did?**


	2. The Hopeful, Arrogant, And Insensitive

**The Arts**

**Ok, so I bet this update was probably the last thing you guys expected.**

**I sincerely apologize for my absence on fanfiction, and will not subject you to any lame excuses that you could probably care less about.**

**I plan on making weekly updates now, as difficult as that may be to imagine, depending on how things in my life are going xD I'm going to be facing important exams soon, and I need to be focused one hundred percent on those. And since I currently have a lack of a social life, all my spare time will probably will go to fanfiction. Yay ^^**

**I apologize once more for my delay in updating. I know you want to get reading, so I'll stop blabbering and let you guys (hopefully) enjoy the fic.**

**Oh, one more thing though. Bear with me, because my absence in writing has made the quality of it degrade drastically. So if ideas are scattered everywhere in this chapter, I apologize. I'm just warming up my skills again.  
>Oh, and I must bring your attention to another observation of mine xD Apparently, in the last chapter, I was not able to properly spell the word pineapple. Silly me.<strong>

**Okay, enough of my incessant talking.**

**Enjoy !**

**XXXXXX**

**Chapter 2**

**The Hopeful, Arrogant, and Insensitive**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

After the end of Kakashi-Sensei's lesson, which no one even bothered to pay attention to, all the girls went out into the hallway, huddled in a small group, and expressed their youthful opinions on the matter of project partners.

"That son of a bitch!" Tenten cried out, practically wailing at Kakashi-sensei's unfairness of pairing her up with a stoic looking person that probably would not give her the time of day.

"Tenten…" Hinata muttered, "He's my cousin."

Hinata did not understand why Tenten was so against being paired up with Neji. Neji was as gentlemen-like as any other male teenager could possibly be. But then she remembered that Tenten and Neji had never met before- Strange, considering the fact that they have been best friends for quite a long time, and decided that she wouldn't fully reprimand Tenten until she had a proper conversation with him.

"Eh, sorry Hinata," Tenten apologized, "But I mean, you actually like your partner…ugh! Unfair."

Hinata blushed a deep crimson red, and quickly stuttered a pathetic "I do not," after which Sakura, sensing Hinata's distress, changed the subject to Ino. Hinata thought that Sakura was a God-send.

"Oh, Tenten, but you are sadly mistaken." Sakura informed the confused bun-haired girl.

"Whaddya mean?" Tenten asked.

"Ino also seems to enjoy the presence of her partner," Sakura informed, snickering a bit.

Tenten waved her eyebrows suggestively. She had also noticed the fact that upon the mention of Shikamaru's name at the beginning of class, Ino fell into absolute silence. Silence, which was not normal at all for Ino.

"What are you guys talking about?" Ino exclaimed.

"Well…" Said a timid Hinata.

"Why on earth would I wanna be paired up with a lazy ass kid like Shikamaru?"

"I don't know," Sakura replied. "You tell us."

"I'm shy when I meet new people, okay? Chill." Ino scoffed.

Hinata, Tenten, and Sakura all exchanged knowing glances with each other. Ino was never shy with new people. In all the years of them knowing her, Ino was always labeled as the loudest, most attention seeking member of their group. These qualities were not necessarily bad, just not preferable.

Ino, sensing their scrutinizing glares, decided to be her own God-send, and craftily deviated the subject away from her.

"But all of us here know that Sakura is just _loving _being paired up with Sasuke." Ino teased, smirking.

"I do not!" Sakura stated, defending herself.

In all honesty, Sasuke was not her first choice for partners. Hell, he was probably at the bottom of the list. From the first moments of their encounter, Sakura felt a menacing aura radiating from him. She didn't want to be enveloped in his dark presence, even if it was only until Friday. Thus, a disbelieving stare was directed towards Ino from Sakura, and her facial expression spoke volumes. Everyone had gotten the message. Sakura Haruno did not want to be paired up with Sasuke Uchiha.

* * *

><p>How did one go about doing a project regarding art? Kakashi-sensei had not been explicit in his expectations on the project, therefore giving Sakura nothing to go on. Should she paint her own painting, write an elaborate report on the foundations of art, research different brush techniques and somehow interact with the whole class by making them try some out for themselves?<p>

As countless thoughts raced through her head, she wondered if Sasuke was even going to help her with the project at all. She had not talked to him about it, but it was more than obvious that she would end up contributing to the project a great deal more than he would. Sighing, thinking that there was no point in stressing herself over creating a magnificent project if there would be no one helping her, she contemplated doing a lame PowerPoint about a famous artist or painting, when a piercing sound of a screeching violin resonated throughout her whole being.

"Tenten!" Sakura shouted in frustration.

"Sorry," Tenten chirped, apologetically.

After the first day of school had ended, Tenten had made her way over to Sakura's house, violin in hand, to come up with some ideas for her project. She was actually pretty enthusiastic about the topic that Kakashi-sensei had graced her with, but less enthusiastic about her partner. Nonetheless, Tenten was determined to make the most of it. She had actually been toying around with the idea of producing her own song and had managed to come up with a few notes, but she had suddenly lost her inspiration, and in a frustrated gesture, carelessly slid the bow across one of the strings, eliciting a screech in protest from her violin-and Sakura.

"You know," Sakura began, "you're doing all of this for nothing. The project has to be a joint effort. What if Neji doesn't like this idea?"

"Yeah, well, I'd like to see him come up with any other idea of his own." Tenten countered.

Sakura sighed, running her delicate fingers through her short pink hair. She did not understand why they were becoming so frustrated over simple projects. These projects were to do with the beauty of art and music, as well as dance and theatre, and she could not help but feel that she should relish in these amazing things instead of stressing out about them. She could guarantee that their partners had not even thought of anything about their assignments, and she came to the decision that without speaking to them, neither Tenten or her were going to get anything properly done. She voiced her thoughts to Tenten.

"I see your point," Tenten said, while packing up her violin.

"You heading out?" Sakura asked, glancing at the clock.

"Yeah," Tenten replied, following her gaze to the digits that read 5:42 pm.

"See you tomorrow!" Sakura exclaimed to Tenten as she was heading out the door, who lifted up her hand in a goodbye gesture.

* * *

><p>"I'm curious if you've made any progress on your projects," Kakashi-sensei said, while looking around his class.<p>

Some fidgeted nervously, while others were sleeping on their desks without a care in the world, and others were chatting, completely ignoring their sensei.

"It's only been a day!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Ah yes, but every day counts. You only have four more days now." Kakshi informed, an evil twinkle in his eye at the thought of his students trying to complete their project the night before it was due.

Groans of protest spread out across the room, demanding that Kakashi granted them extra time for their projects. None of them had actually thought about how little the time until the project due was until now.

Kakashi could barely hold the chuckle that escaped his lips, wondering how on earth they had not thought of the time issue until now. In all honesty, he was expecting them to have complained yesterday about it. He had actually intended to give them two full weeks on the project, not just five days. He only said it was due Friday as some sick joke to witness his students embrace momentarily panic. But when he saw that they were more preoccupied with w_ho _they were paired up with instead of _doing _the actual project, he refrained from taking his initial due date back. In his professional opinion, the kids before him had to mature and worry about more pressing things, such as the time allotted for the project, instead of whose presence they would be in. They needed to grow up and learn to take responsibility for their lack of interest.

"I'm not changing my mind," Kakashi said in a tone that implied he was enjoying himself. "However, I'm not completely heartless. You may work on your projects during class until Friday."

After more protests and countless arguments from different head strong students in the class, most of which included the unfairness of being assigned such a demanding project only in their first week of school, the students finally realized that Kakashi-sensei would not be swayed in his decision. Accepting defeat as Kakashi-sensei pointed out they had spent almost half of their lesson arguing, they glanced around the room in search of their unwanted partners, moving seats so they could be closer to one another. Time was of the essence now, and not to be wasted.

Sakura, Ino, Tenten, and Hinata were already situated smack in the middle of the class and were not planning on moving. Coincidentally, the four seats before them became vacant as their occupants emptied them in pursue of their own partners. The girls glanced at each other and smiled at their luck, as they settled comfortably in their seats.

* * *

><p>All of Sakura's comfort was gone as she scowled; extremely unpleased of the current situation she was in. Sasuke sat in the desk in front of her, turning his chair so he could face her. However, he made no move to initiate any type of verbal interaction so they could actually begin doing the project. Instead, he settled for a dark gaze that most girls, and boys for that matter, would cower from.<p>

Sakura mentally sighed as she eyed the girls next to her. Hinata and Naruto seemed to be communicating fairly well. That is, Naruto voiced his mundane and silly ideas in his loud and obnoxious voice to the blue haired lady, while she just blushed and added shy comments and her opinions in return.

Ino was yelling at a sleeping Shikamaru trying to wake him up, and Tenten was talking animatedly about her musical ideas as Neji sat opposite of her, arms crossed, a calculating gaze present in his pearl colored eyes.

Well, no matter how seemingly unproductive their discussions were, they were at least _talking_. Something Sakura and Sasuke had yet to do.

"So," Sakura finally began after a few minutes of awkward silence, "do you have any ideas?"

"No," Sasuke replied coldly.

Sakura sighed, but mentally noted that he had in fact answered her question, and that he was actually talking to her. That was a start, at least.

"Well," Sakura said, "what should our project be about?"

"Art," He said rather annoyed, as if talking to a three year old child.

Sakura's eye twitched at the bluntness of his answer. She bit back the haughty retort she was just going to snap at him with, thinking that she would be the bigger person. If she didn't play nice, she doubted that any type of work would take place. So she settled for rolling her eyes dramatically.

"More specifically? Like should we do it about paintings, painters, sculptures, etcetera?"

"Whatever," He replied with an indifferent tone.

Sakura furrowed her eyebrow at the arrogance of the male sitting in front of her. This project was a big part of their grade, after all, and she could not believe that he was not showing even a tad bit of interest. Didn't he realize that the final project, whether he chose to participate or not, would have his name on it as well as hers? Sakura was highly tempted to make _their _project a complete joke, just to mock him. A stray thought entered her head, and she wondered if she could do the project alone…

"Are you not capable of speaking more than one word as a reply?" Sakura asked, irritated.

"Hn," Was his only reply, as he leaned back against the chair and crossed his arms over his chest.

Sakura fixed him with one of her murderous glares, but Sasuke seemed completely unfazed. He just met her glare with one of his own. They stayed like that for a few moments, waiting to see who would be the first to succumb.

Sakura was raging right now at the complete hostility of the creature before her. How someone could possess such an amount of arrogance was beyond her comprehension. She was about to engage in a full on rant, when an idea crossed her brilliant mind, and she smiled a slow smile.

"I've got an idea," She said simply, with a tone of wickedness entering her voice.

Sasuke stared blankly at her, clearly waiting for her to continue.

"I was thinking," Sakura began, a bit too sweetly, "that our project should contain some interaction with the rest of the class. That way, it won't be tedious and boring as most of the other projects are bound to be."

"And?" Sasuke inquired with a disinterested manner.

"Well, how about we teach the class the basic anatomy of the human body. We can have a slide show, or something like that, outlining a few steps on how to draw one. Then we give them a real life model to practice drawing. And who would that model be but you? I mean, I can practically imagine you standing naked in front of the classroom, telling everyone to 'draw you like one of their French girls'."

Sakura never intended to be so mocking, and dare she say it, a bit mean. She never liked it when she was on the receiving end of harsh and cruel words, but she felt that Sasuke and his attitude, or lack of, righteously deserved it. She had to bite her tongue to keep her facial expression serious, as a look of annoyance and irritation crossed his usually uninterested features.

Just at that moment, the bell started ringing, and many rushed back to their seats to get the hell out of the classroom as fast as possible.

Sakura watched as Sasuke ungracefully got up from his chair, slamming it under the desk, a scowl prominent on his face. Only when the swarm of students separated these two, did Sakura let out her contained laughter.

* * *

><p>As lunch time came around, the girls merrily sat down at a rather large circular table, and began eating, chatting of the day's events so far.<p>

"So Ino," Sakura said, between bites of her apple, "did you manage to wake Shikamaru long enough to discuss project ideas or not?"

"Ugh," Ino replied, groaning as she stabbed a carrot on her plate, "he is so lazy I don't think we'd even finish _half_ of the project if we had all year!"

Sakura chuckled at her friend's frustration, inwardly grinning with satisfaction that she was not the only one that had trouble with her partner. Maybe if all the projects were bad, Kakashi-sensei would have mercy on them, and cancel the projects. Sakura sighed as she knew her wishful thinking would not happen.

"Neji and I have actually come up with an idea on what to do!" Tenten exclaimed, surprise still evident in her voice over their somewhat mutual understanding.

"Really?" Ino yelled, incredulously.

"Yup," Tenten replied, taking another spoonful of spaghetti into her mouth. "Turns out that he plays piano. We're gonna compose a piece of classical music."

Sakura frowned, thinking how completely unfair it was for Tenten to get paired up with a decent partner, while she had such foul luck. Still, she couldn't help but feel happy for her bun-haired friend as she realized that she was going to do something she loved doing. As Sakura glanced at Ino, who was idly picking at pieces of her salad, she knew that the same thoughts crossed her blue eyed friend.

"Hinata!" a loud voice hollered.

The girls turned towards the raucous noise, only to find Naruto walking eagerly towards them with a huge grin plastered on his face, a tray with a two bowls of ramen in hand, and the rest of the gang reluctantly following after him.

Sakura noticed a layer of pink dust grace Hinata's cheeks as Naruto sat down beside her, as she said a quiet hello in turn.

"Boy am I starving!" Naruto exclaimed, as he lifted his eating utensils and dug into the ramen, as the rest of the boys placed their trays down on the same table.

Sakura tried not to notice the intense glare Sasuke pinned her down with, and proceeded to talk to her friends as if they were alone, completely ignoring the other males.

"So we're still going to check out Ichiraku tonight, right? Sakura asked her friends.

"You bet we are!" Tenten heartily agreed, "We've been waiting _months _for that place to open."

Sakura nodded in agreement, as she spotted Shikamaru give her a curious glance.

"You mean that new ramen place that is supposed to open tonight?" He inquired.

Sakura was about to respond her affirmative, but it was Ino who spoke for her. Sakura raised a delicately plucked eyebrow as Ino confirmed his question for him, and she certainly didn't miss the gaze her blonde haired friend was staring at an oblivious Shikamaru with. She made a mental note to ask Ino what her deal was with Shikamaru later.

"What!" Naruto exclaimed, "A new ramen place! Wohoo!"

Hinata giggled, as she fed Naruto's enthusiasm by saying, "In their advertising, i-it said t-that they had the widest r-range of different t-types of ramen in the state."

Naruto gaped at her, and fixed the members of his group with an intense stare, and proclaimed, "We're going!"

Sakura was genuinely surprised that Naruto had not yet heard of the new restaurant. However, as soon as those words left Naruto's mouth, Sakura instantly regretted bringing up the subject. Tonight was supposed to be a girls-night-out sort of night, and her plan instantly blew up in smoke as Naruto demanded he attended with his friends. She noticed the frowns on her friends faces, excluding Hinata's, at the prospect of the other guy's attendance. Sakura should have known better. She should have known Naruto's obsession with ramen was not something not to meddle with.

She was about to protest when, Shikamaru groaned, Sasuke muttered 'teme' under his breath, and Neji scoffed.

She found their reactions rather amusing, and was instantly relieved when she realized that they would certainly not want to go. Maybe they could convince Naruto to go another time, with the guys only, when all of them were up to it…

Again, Sakura's wishful thinking proved to be futile.

"No! You guys are coming even if I have to drag you!" Naruto decreed, "Besides, it will be fun… and delicious, too!"

Sakura cursed herself for being such an optimist. It was better in her opinion, to hope for the least, so if you were disappointed it wouldn't hurt too much. However, it seemed that today she could not follow her own advice.

"I'm… busy later," Shikamaru lazily muttered.

"Bullshit!" Naruto retorted.

Shikamaru simply yawned, but said nothing in return, and Sakura figured that was because he was too untroubled to do so.

"It w-would also g-give us an opportunity to d-discuss about our projects." Hinata offered, meekly.

Sakura stared opened mouth at Hinata, wondering why on earth the shyest girl in history chose this particular situation to be brave and voice her opinions for a change. Sakura could practically see the wheels churning in each of the heads surrounding her, reasoning that tonight was as good of a time as any to get started on a rather lengthy project. It would also be more comfortable too, with everyone present, and it wouldn't seem like such a tedious task if they were to have some sort of fun at the opening of Ichiraku.

"I think she might be right," Ino offered, discreetly eying Shikamaru in search of his reaction.

"Yes," Tenten agreed, "We do have so much more to discuss, so much more planning to do."

"How troublesome," Shikamaru droned.

As soon as more of their conjoined groups were aware of the perfect solution that presented itself, Naruto became ecstatic, and fist pumped the air.

"You're the best Hinata! I can't believe you managed to convince them!"

Hinata blushed but said nothing, and Sakura could not help but find a double meaning to his words. The fact that he couldn't have believed that Hinata was capable of such a feat was probably picked up on by the shy lady. Sakura could practically see the tiny portion of Hinata's confidence take a devastating blow. Thus, Sakura could have done nothing less but bonk Naruto on his seemingly empty head.

"You baka!" She cried, while Naruto started rubbing the spot where she had hit him.

"Ow, Sakura! What was that for?"

Sakura refused to say anything, and crossed her arms over her chest. Insensitive bastard.

"So teme, Neji, you coming?" Naruto finally asked, aware that they hadn't said much since they had sat down at the table.

Neji and Sasuke glanced at each other, as if forming a silent agreement with one another. Apparently, the two must be on good terms. Or at least, Sakura thought, that they respect each other.

"If Hinata will be there, I see it only fit I accompany her as well." Neji stated, simply.

Leave it to Neji to make meeting with a girl outside his family something he must simply do just because his cousin was going. Sakura did not fail to notice how Tenten rolled her eyes.

"Yay!" Naruto exclaimed, "And how about you Sasuke? I'm sure they'll have some sort of ramen with tomatoes in it."

Sasuke ignored Naruto's comment to the full of his extent, and rationalized with himself that the project did indeed have to be completed. And the way Sakura and he handled talking today… Well, it was obvious that they needed all the possible time they could get.

"Hn,"

Sakura silently sulked at Sasuke's response, since he obviously agreed to go in his Sasuke like manner, but decided that she'd better play nice again. She would not let a silly boy come between her and her friend's night out, no matter if was going to be tainted by the torturous homework assigned by a perverted teacher. She would just have to make the most of it.

"Tonight at six then, we'll meet at the school gates! We'll set off together from there, okay?" Naruto more demanded than asked, excitement evident in his voice, anxiousness radiating throughout his whole being.

As the bell signaling the end of lunch rang, everyone nodded in consent.

From that moment on, Sakura knew something was going to happen. She did not know if it would be bad or good, but something would definitely change tonight. It was her intuition kicking in again, and in all the years of her life, Sakura's intuition was never wrong.

* * *

><p><strong>Okay, second chapter is finally done! You cannot imagine the satisfaction I'm feeling right now for having finished this. <strong>

**And I know that there isn't a lot of Sasusaku at the moment, but bare with me! I plan on it being a long-ish fic, with lots of development taking place. Ever heard of the phrase that 'love comes softly'? xD**

**Anyways, thanks for reading. And I'd thank you even further if you took your time and reviewed ;) **

**-October Raspberry**


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